Five Hundred Year Old Ghost
by azuyama-chan
Summary: SPR gets a new case, a weird one in fact. Due to circumstances, Naru becomes overprotective over Mai. Who says protectiveness is an issue. NaruMai
1. Prologue

Hello people! Wah, another fic from me. But this time, it's a Ghost Hunt fic.

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Ghost Hunt. If I did, well...

--

"Mai, tea." The low crisp voice said, as Mai entered the office. Taniyama Mai worked at SPR or Shibuya Psychic Research as an assistant. She hurriedly approach the kitchen to prepare her boss, Shibuya Kazuya nicknamed Naru, for some tea.

She knocked on Naru's door, and opened it when he answered. Mai placed the hot tea on his table. Naru looked up from a stack of paper. He noticed that she didn't leave the office yet.

"Do you require anything, Mai?" he asked, annoyed that his assistant is wasting time.

"A thank you would be nice." she said. How hard was it to get your narcissistic boss to say thank you? Well, very hard.

Naru didn't choose to reply, instead, he shot her a knowing glare. With that, she left the office, mumbling something about "narcissistic bosses". He gave a sigh, as he turned from his files to his computer.

--

Mai turned as the door opened to reveal Takigawa. "Bou-san!" she greeted as he closed the door behind him.

"How are you Mai?" Takigawa asked, taking off his coat. "Is Naru treating you alright?"

Mai couldn't help but smile at his concern. Bou-san was like an older brother to her. He sat down in one of the couches, while Mai prepared him some tea. John and Ayako entered the room a few minutes after and so Mai ended up preparing tea for them too. They gave their thanks to the young girl when they received their cup of hot green tea.

There was a knock on the door, and Mai knew instantly that it was a possible client on the door. Naru, Bou-san, John, Ayako, Masako, Lin-san and Yasuhara don't knock on the door, instead they instantly went inside. Mai opened the door, being hospitable in an instant. The other three that were in the room immediately stood up, as a man in either his fourties or fifties entered their premises. They offered the man a seat while Mai went off to prepare tea.

"And I take that you're the CEO?" The man spoke for the first time, referring to Takigawa.

Takigawa and the other two, faked cough, to hide their laughter. A voice behind them spoke, "No. That would be me." This brought their attention to Naru, who was behind them. Mai had told him of a potential client arriving before rushing off to tell Lin and prepare tea for the guest.

Naru took a seat across the man while Lin sat beside him. Lin had a notebook in his hand to take notes. The others took their seats. It was unusual for them to be here, present for an interview with a potential client, as they only meet their clients. Mai entered once again to give the guest and Naru their tea, taking a seat beside John.

"I'm Shibuya Kazuya, CEO of SPR."

"I'm Hayashi Dai. I'm the principal for Momiji Chuugakko." He lowered his head and added, "I would like you to take a look at my school."

"What is wrong with the school?" Mai asked before Naru was able to.

"Well, my students reported seeing a ghost of a young boy, walking around, looking for someone or something. Desks and chairs have been overturned. I thought nothing of it at first. But I was alarmed of what a teacher had told me. He had been teaching his class when a ghost went up to him and asked, 'Have you seen her?'"

The principal took a deep breath, then he continued, "A boy had almost killed a girl with a knife, and after they were able to restrain him, he has no memory of almost killing her."

Mai gasped, no one had to go through that experience. Her heart reached out for the girl, knowing her pain. They all looked at Naru, waiting for his response. Mai wanted to go and help them, especially as they had risen up to the point that one of their students was almost killed.

"We'll take the job." he said finally, the principal giving a smile. "We would need a place where we could set up our base."

"Well then, I'll take my leave and prepare that for you. Kobayashi Asumi, our student council president, will be waiting for you. Ask her if you need anything. Thank you again, Shibuya-san." The principal said and left for the school.

"Lin." Naru said one word and the Chinese man instantly knew what he meant. The three boys, comprising of Lin, Takigawa and John, were then loading the equipment Naru specified into the van. Mai was left to call Masako.

--

Thirty minutes later…

Takigawa opened the map that was in his hand. It took him a few minutes before he found the school.

"Turn left at the next intersection." He directed Ayako, without looking up from his map. In the back seat is Mai, together with John and Masako. Earlier, Masako had asked Naru if she could ride with them in the SPR van. Naru, fortunately for Mai's sake, turned her down, stating that it was too dangerous for Masako and that she should go with Ayako in her car.

"Turn right at the next corner."

"How is school Mai-san?" John asked.

"It's alright." Mai replied, "Though I have too many absences, my friends are helping me with notes and stuff."

"Ah, is that so? But, aren't you going to be held back because of too many absences?" It was obvious that John was curious about Japanese schools.

"Nah, I don't think so." Mai said. "I think only for the most extreme cases. They know that I'm leaving for work, and because I'm able to catch up with my classes."

"That's good to hear." Mai couldn't help but smile at John's concern.

"Okay." Ayako suddenly spoke up. "We're here."

"Finally." This was the first word Masako had spoken throughout the entire ride.

They left the car to join Naru and Lin who went ahead of them. There at the front gate, was a girl. It seemed as if she was waiting for them.

"Konnichiwa!" She greeted them as they reached her. "I'm Kobayashi Asumi. I'm the student council president, and I'm here to assist you in anyway I can."

"I'm Shibuya Kazuya, the CEO of Shibuya Psychic Research or SPR." Naru offered his hand, and Asumi shook it. "Would you be able to take us to our base?"

Naru, Mai, Masako and Ayako followed Asumi as she showed them to their base, while Lin, Takigawa and John carried the equipment.

--

**That's the end. See you on the next chapter.**


	2. The Limited Information

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Ghost Hunt. If I did, well...

* * *

The equipment was really heavy. It was no wonder that the students just eyed the three members of the SPR left to do such a daunting task. Takigawa twitched. "What's with them?" He asked in a soft hissing voice, but loud enough to be heard by his two companions. "Don't they see that we are having trouble carrying all this?"

The priest sighed. "Maybe that's why they don't help." Takigawa didn't comment about this, but he made a usual grumble along the way.

"Lin-san," the curious priest enquired, "How can we keep up with them?" Since Naru and the gang have gone ahead, and left the three of them to carry the cameras and such, they couldn't possibly know the way to the base.

As if to answer his question, Mai appeared in front of them. She gave her cheerful smile and said that Naru had sent her to get them, while Naru talked to Asumi. Mai grabbed two thermal cameras from Lin, who was carrying the most load, and lead the way. It took them a minute or so to reach the conference room, a.k.a. the base.

Takigawa gave a look of irritation, as he saw Masako and Ayako, practically doing nothing. They didn't even bother to help!

"Having fun?" Ayako commented slyly. No, that didn't help either. In fact, it made Takigawa feel like a volcano about to explode. But instead of exploding, he gave short breaths at five second intervals to cool himself.

"Actually, some help would be nice." Takigawa bounced back; his voice had a hint of agitation. He received a scoff from Ayako.

"How very rude of me," He added, his lips starting to form a smile. "I shouldn't ask Ayako-baa-chan to do the tedious task of bringing the heavy-"

But before he could finish what he was saying, Ayako hit him on the head with her purse. He yelled out his cry of pain, as the purse continued to make contact with his head.

"Matsuzaki-san," Naru said, as he was slowly approaching them. "We are not here to play around."

Ayako instantly stopped at the younger boy's direction. He may be younger, but those death glares of his seem to be perfected over the last century. She made a frown, her "punishment" was cut off, but Takigawa was glad that it was.

"Where is Asumi-san?" Mai asked, curious as to where the student council president had gone. _Maybe Naru did something…_

"She is getting all the students that are involved in the case." was Naru's swift answer. He went inside; to study all the information he had at the moment.

It took the team approximately 30 minutes to bring all the equipment to the base. "Mai, tea." was the first thing Mai heard when she finished bringing all the equipment.

"Hai." she replied, and went on to do her routine of making her boss' tea. She ended up doing this five times, as her boss asked for more and more, while listening to the stories of the numerous students that had experienced or witnessed paranormal activity. Almost all of the people in school, including faculty, have seen this child ghost at least once.

"Woah, so many have seen this ghost kid." Takigawa stated tiredly, as Asumi left together with the last group of students to be interviewed. "But only one class saw their classmate almost kill a girl."

Naru turned to Masako. "Hara-san, what do you sense?" He asked, knowing that an experienced medium such as her would be able to feel something.

She gave a quick small frown when Naru called her by her last name, but not quick enough to be unnoticed by Mai. Masako thought for a moment before adding in her thoughts. "I sense a presence of a boy, and of something else."

"Something else?" John echoed. The other members were also keen on knowing what this was. Masako looked uncertain for a moment, as if doubting if she ever felt it at all. She closed her eyes for a moment, and shook her head.

"It's nothing." Everyone else breathed a sigh of relief.

Naru stood up from his chair and went over to Lin to go over the notes Lin made. Scanning them up and down, Naru noticed something in the ghost boy appearances. He got up and reached for the whiteboard that had the school map in it. He grabbed the red coloured magnetic dots and placed them in various places in the school map. He did the same with the purple magnetic dots, putting them in selected places that also contained the red magnetic dots. Finally, with a blue one, he placed it in one location.

He turned to look at the curious looks that the SPR members sported. With a cough, he started his discussion. "The red dots signify the places where the ghost boy has appeared at least once. The purple dots are the places that have been visited by the ghost boy the most. The blue dot is the place where the incident happened."

The team nodded in understanding, knowing that their deductive boss will get something out sooner or later. More on the sooner, though.

He continued, "The places that don't have anything on them, are the places that had no paranormal activity, from what we can get out of the information given by the students."

"Yes, and these are the faculty room and the gym, etc..." Takigawa added exasperatedly, annoyed on what Naru seem to be implying. They're grownups for crying out loud, not school children. Naru gave Takigawa a much colder glare.

"Oh, I know." John called out, "The ghost boy doesn't seem to be visiting areas that the students don't usually go to."

"That explains the teacher's faculty room." Mai confirmed, "But not the gym. The students go there for P.E. class."

"Yes Mai. There's something else." Naru seemed to give Takigawa a much colder glare than he used to. It was as if he knew what the monk was thinking. "They're places where students wear their school uniform."

Mai looked at the map. The gym, when students go to P.E. they have to change into their P.E. gear. There were also the archery grounds, the swimming pool and the teacher's faculty room, where students don't really stay there for a long period of time. It all kicks into place.

Takigawa was also surprised. Only Naru-bou could be able to get out something like that. He turned to look at his little sister figure, Mai. She had given a smile of admiration, that she thought was unseen by everyone.

"Alright, Matsuzaki-san and Hara-san, you go around the school, and see if you can sense anything." Naru ordered in his usual cold business fashion, but they nodded anyway. Naru thought for a moment before he continued, "Mai, Brown-san and Takigawa will set up the cameras in the classrooms 1-C, 1-F, 2-B, 2-E, 3-A, and 3-F."

"Demo, Naru," Mai couldn't help but inquire, "What happens if there is a class in one of the rooms?"

Naru gave his answer, "Well, just remember those rooms and set them up soon after."

They nodded their heads, leaving the now silent room, except for Lin's typing.


	3. So, What Do You Have to Say?

**Disclaimer: **You know the drill.

Naru: Mai, tea!  
Me: Mai, me too!  
Mai: What? Tea addicts! Go get it yourselves...  
Naru: (glares)  
Me: But I'm lazy. XD  
Naru: (still glares)  
Mai: Fine! (rushes off to make tea)  
Naru: We have the same tastes. (looks at my black clothes)  
Me: I agree. Although, you lack a bit of red... Oh! I have to get back to writing the chapters...(mumbles) I might stop by to get chocolate, pocky and cookies.  
Mai: (had fallen asleep and dreams that me getting either chocolate, pocky or cookies was going to be a bad thing)

First and foremost, I want to thank all those who reviewed. I love reading your comments about the fic. Thank you to my beta and friend, **Leenstarz** or as I like to call her, **Tama-chan**! Please take note that there would be a **crossover. **But, I don't want you guys to know yet, so I'm not telling. XD There are hints on the next chapter though. There are also **implied novel spoilers**, just to let you guys know.

* * *

John, Takigawa and Mai, left the room, but not before receiving a school map from Naru. Takigawa stalled for a moment, thinking of his first line of attack.

"We should check if there are any classes in the rooms we're assigned to." The other two nodded at Takigawa's words. "Mai, if there is no one there, get the measurements Naru-bou wanted. Wait for us to get there with the equipment."

As they went through each one of the classes, they seem to have noticed that Naru had given them rooms that were currently empty. 'Darn, Naru thought of _everything._' Mai mentally cursed.

They returned to the base after they had finished. There, Naru was rereading the case information. "Ne, Naru," Mai uttered, approaching her boss, "Here are the temperatures you wanted me to check." He simply glanced at her as she handed him the measurements. "Mai, tea." he ordered.

'Sheesh.' Mai thought, 'No please or thank you. How do I put up with this stuff?' She made her way towards their makeshift kitchen, boiling hot water. While waiting for it, she let out the tea and some honey.

"Anyone else wants some?" she asked in a loud voice, so the other members could hear her. A chorus of "no's" reached her ears so she let out only one tea cup and a spoon. She made the tea and gave it to Naru, who made no acknowledgement of her existence. Mai stood there for a while, until Naru finally looked up to her with a glare. This made Mai forget about wanting a 'thanks' from Naru and went towards Bou-san and John.

After getting directions, they made their way to the cafeteria, where Ayako was eating. The trio bought their food and went to sit with the miko, as it was the only table that hadn't been fully occupied. Mai went to sit in the empty space next to Ayako, Takigawa sitting across her with John beside him.

"Any luck, Ayako-san?" John inquired politely. "Nope." She quickly replied. For John and Mai, this was a sign that the conversation was going nowhere. But for Takigawa, this was a perfect way to tease her. "You didn't sense the ghost?" Takigawa started. "That must be because you're a fake."

"I am not!" She reached over the table to whack the monk with her purse. Satisfied, she went back to eating her lunch. John and Mai chuckled at this. They do that all the time; almost to the point that they are either really irritated at each other or they are flirting. Mai likes to think that it was the latter.

"Where is Masako?" Mai piped up, interested on the whereabouts of the medium. Ayako explained that she had gone outside to eat, because she was allergic to the food they were selling in the cafeteria. "I think she didn't want to eat here because the food doesn't suite her lavish tastes." Ayako scoffed and continued, "She's just bummed that Naru rejected her this time." Even Mai couldn't help but smile at that.

The group was really hungry, as there were no more conversations being made. They were possibly the most silent of all, as the students were very intent in their conversations. A scream, not really recognizable at first over the noisy crowd, was slowly and steadily being heard.

They were curious, so they went to look at the source of the scream, a girl by the sound of it. But before they could locate her, the earth shook, forcing the students and them to take cover under the tables. Ayako seemed agitated, holding on to the nearest person she could hold on to, which seemed to be Takigawa. He didn't notice it, thinking that it was his "little sister", Mai. But as he turned to provide comfort, he noticed that she was curled up in a ball. He realised that it was Ayako, and not Mai, and he kept this to himself. Mai hugged her knees closer to herself. She was cold and felt a sharp pang on her arms.

Over the sounds of distress coming from the students, one voice was clearly heard most of all. It was soft and light, at this volume, it cannot, no, _**shouldn't **_be heard at all. But it is, and the students seemed to notice it as well.

A little boy was walking around the cafeteria. "Doko desu ka? Where are you?" he whispered, repeating the same thing over and over again, as he moved about. It was until seconds later that the shaking and the ghost boy disappeared. The students came out one by one, most of them still clearly terrified.

The cafeteria door suddenly opened, Masako entering in a rush. Her brown eyes quickly scanned the area and let out a breath of relief. Naru and Lin entered, somehow realising that something was wrong. "What happened?" Naru asked earning a look of astonishment from the four members of the team that had survived the ordeal. "You mean you didn't know?" Takigawa couldn't help but ask, just to make sure.

"Naru," Mai reported, "There was an earthquake a while ago. Don't tell me that you didn't feel it?" Naru with a quick shake of his head told her that they didn't.

"Yes. Also, the boy was here." Masako obviously wanted to stay on top of Mai. "I feel a slight disturbing aura. But I don't recognize it."

"What did it feel like, Hara-san?" Lin spoke up this time. Both he and his shiki had felt something, but they were unfamiliar with it. Masako looked shocked at first, but shrugged it off. "I can't really explain it. But, it was sort of cold and painful." She thought for a moment. "And that it didn't feel like a ghost. That… is all I can remember."

"This means that the ghost must be really strong." Naru concluded. Weaker ghosts would normally slow down their actions when intruders arrive. It is only the stronger ones that would either continue with their actions or it would increase. "Mai." Naru was now looking at Mai, his face appearing to say, 'If-you-have-something-to-say-to-me-say-it-now'. Mai was puzzled, and made a step backwards. She wasn't really thinking that she could help out with the investigation; all she does is manual labour and making tea. She wasn't really smart or useful, plus she gets in trouble most of the time. She wasn't really psy–SPLASH!

Mai shivered as the water hit her. She wasn't really paying attention, and it seemed that she had took too many steps backwards, only to be drenched in water a student had accidentally spilt.

"Gomen, gomen!" The girl bowed, showing that she was truly apologetic of her actions. Asumi then went up to the girl, who they later known as Suzuki Tamiko, and semi-scolded at her friend.

"Sumimasen, Taniyama-san." Asumi spoke, bowing at Mai. "It's okay." Mai was now embarrassed at the big deal they had made.

"Maybe she's not a danger-magnet." Ayako teased.

"Maybe she is just unlucky." Takigawa whispered back. But not soft enough, as Mai seemed to have heard and sent them an angry look.

"Kobayashi-san, please bring all the students in the cafeteria to the base." Naru ordered, turning to leave. But not before he added, "Mai, get yourself a change clothes. I don't want a wet assistant. It is very unprofessional." The rest followed him to the base. _And here I thought he was almost being nice. _Mai thought as he turned to look at Tamiko. "Ano, Tamiko-san," Mai started, conscious of what she was going to say. "Can I borrow clothes? I don't have them."

"Oh!" Tamiko didn't seem to try and hide the glee in her voice. "But it's just my school uniform. Is that okay?"

Mai gave a nod, and followed the girl to the changing rooms.

* * *

**Author's Ramblings**

I wanted to upload this chapter earlier, but because I had to mock exams, it was delayed. Hehe...


	4. Attacked, again!

Me: Noo!! Lelouch, why?! sobs Why did you die? looks around to see Naru Naru! continues sobbing Comfort me!  
Naru: deadpan look  
Mai: There there. pats on my back Naru is just the cold person he is. (thinks: Now I know why she shouldn't get pocky or sweets for that matter...)  
Naru: glares  
Me: sniffles At least you Naru and Inuyasha are still alive.  
Sorry, last episode of Code Geass made me cry. And I'm not the emotional sort, mind you.

**Disclaimer: **The usual...

Cheers for my fourth chapter! Virtual cookies for those who reviewed and to my beta, **Tama-chan**! (aka **Leenstarz**)

* * *

The changing rooms of the gym were like any other ordinary changing room. It was plain, decent for a public school such as this. Tamiko brought Mai to the lockers, still hoping that the extra uniform that she had brought would be able to help compensate for her accident. Although Mai had assured her that it was okay while they made their way to the lockers, she couldn't help but still feel bad inside. Tamiko grabbed the neatly folded school uniform and handed it to Mai, embarrassed nonetheless. It was very disrespectful, one could say, accidentally spilling water on a stranger – no, a visitor – to their school.

"Thank you very much for your help, Tamiko-san." Mai had spoken, breaking the still silence between them. Her soft tone of voice told Tamiko that the accident was forgotten and that she was thanked for her help and good intentions.

"No problem." Tamiko smiled at her companions words. She led Mai to the stalls in the corner, providing her an opportunity to change with privacy.

"Arigatou." Mai repeated, hoping that this would assure the girl that she was not angry at the episode at all. With that, she entered the stall to change into the school uniform she had borrowed.

When Mai had finally exited the stall five minutes later, she noticed that Tamiko was still there, waiting for her. Tamiko stood up the moment as she left the stall, and answered her unspoken question. "I thought that you might want to know your way back. Since, you know, you don't really know your way around the school yet."

"Ah, thank so you much." Mai bowed this time. Maybe working for an overly ungrateful boss has made her appreciate the little things people would normally overlook. Maybe.

"Where are you supposed to be?" Tamiko queried, clearly showing that the whole student body did not know where they were staying.

"Etto… The base was in room…" Mai dragged on, trying to search in her brain the room number. "Ah! 3-E!"

"Oh okay. So it's in the second floor."

Mai followed Tamiko, anyone could easily mistake that they are classmates, except for the fact that Mai is a year older and that she doesn't even go to this school at all.

--

Naru looked over his notes over and over again, hoping to catch something he might have missed earlier. But, he is very confident that he didn't; after all, he is very competent on what he does.

Naru glanced at the screens, his arms resting on the table. His eyes flickered to the second screen to the right, the camera at the classrom1-F, showing Mai and a student in this school, was walking past the door. Naru guessed that she was the one who accidentally spilled water on his assistant. Speaking of which, he has to try to get something out of her. He noticed that the two girls came to a halt. 'Probably, a "girl" talk of some sort.' Naru told himself. Annoyed, he looked away from the screens, almost going downstairs to "remind" her that she has work to do.

"Takigawa-san," he suddenly spoke, deciding that Takigawa was more suitable for the task at hand. "Please go and remind Mai that she should not waste her time dilly-dallying."

--

Mai felt the same cold and sharp pang she had felt a few moments ago. She felt it, as the moment she passed through the school's economics room. She couldn't help but shiver at the decreasing temperature. Sure, by now, Naru would have noticed the significant change.

--

"Naru…" Masako spoke hesitantly, instantly gaining Naru's attention.

"What is it, Hara-san?" He curtly replied. 'Again with the formalities.' Masako thought, 'Why is it that only Mai, I mean Taniyama-san, that he would drop the formalities? Wait, _focus_ Masako. Focus.'

"I feel the presence again…" She dragged on. The 'presence' that she had felt was taking its toll on her abilities. The sharp pangs it caused on her body made her weaker by the minute.

"Where is it?" He asked. But he didn't need to wait for her to reply since Lin swiftly informed him that something was happening. "Naru! The area beside the room 1-F is decreasing in temperature."

'1-F? That was where Mai was.' Without any second thought, he ran as quickly as he can to that direction.

Masako was unsure of whether or not Naru was merely curious of the events that were happening or that there was something else behind it. She turned to look at the monitors, hoping that they would give a clue. But the moment she saw the screen Naru was previously looking at, she wish she didn't. Because what she saw on that screen was Mai.

Ayako approached Masako and looked at the very same screen. She saw that Mai was surrounded by many students, but since it was only through a door, it was hard to see. But seeing the panic in Takigawa's face and that of John's, who apparently also made his way to the scene, she immediately concluded that something wrong was happening. She, together with Lin, left the base, Masako now alone. Masako couldn't help but scowl. Who wouldn't scowl, if they were left alone? But she couldn't rush down to help them. It was pretty hard to run for your life with a kimono on, and she wouldn't dare, unless of course if the occasion calls for it.

--

Mai looked at the distraught faces of the students slowly arriving, some merely surrounding her, and some looked as if they were planning to tackle. Well, she couldn't say that they were in the worst possible place yet, considering that she was being backed to a wall by a male student. This would be a pretty reasonable action, taking into account that a sharp silver kitchen knife was nestled on his right hand.

Since her back was to the wall, and that there was no way that she could find a way out. She knew that if she made on wrong move, the knife would no longer be in the boy's grasp but would somehow land on her body. GULP! 'Deep breaths, Mai. Deep breaths.' She calmed herself. There was no use getting panicky in a situation where one false move is **definitely **out of the question.

The boy's arm raised high and everyone's eyes widened, except Mai. She, out of hysteria closed her eyes, and tightened them when an unsettling pain hit her right arm. Unlike before, the pain this time was that of broken flesh, and she could feel the blood dripping down the fresh wound.

"Now!" someone of obvious authority barked, and the sound a desperate cry reached Mai's ears. This made her open in surprise, only to see three people pining down the young male. It was Lin, and two other students, and the pinned down male did not like this one bit and was struggling. It was a good thing that the three were managing and the student could not break hold. Naru was there too, getting the knife out of the offender's hold.

"Naumaku sanmanda bazaradan kan." Takigawa then yelled out, the struggling man appears to be no longer possessed and John was making sure of that. Takigawa approached the troubled girl, concern filling his face. "Are you alright now, Mai?"

She could rattle out the numerous thoughts that filled her head and how terrifying the whole experience was. But instead, she settled with an "I'm fine", letting her tone speak for her.

Takigawa, or as his self-acclaimed little sister called him Bou-san, patted her head. He knew that she wasn't feeling okay, and that it was a very stupid question to ask. But, he couldn't help it; he was really worried back there.

Mai knew that Bou-san was just looking out for her; the worry in his face when he saw her a while ago was more than proof for this. It seemed that Ayako was also worried, because when she approached, she was talking more than usual.

Ayako grabbed the red ribbon that hung around Mai's neck. She used it to bandage the injured arm to stop the blood from flowing. The white sleeve of right arm was now drenched with the red, sticky fluid. The green skirt of the sailor fuku was now dressed with droplets of blood. But Mai, being the unselfish natured girl she is, wasn't thinking of her wound, even though it was the pain that made her flinch every now and then. No, she was thinking about the clothes Tamiko had lent her and how she was going to fix it.

"Come on Mai," she said, gently taking hold of the uninjured arm. "Let's get you to the nurse's office." Ayako then directed her to west, to the nurse's office.

The rest of the members knew that there was nothing they could do more than just stand in the sick bay. They made their way to the base, knowing that Ayako would be able to take care of Mai also with the fact that Naru would make them go there anyway. After all, Mai is alright, apart from an incision on her arm.

As they were walking, John felt that someone else was missing. Carefully checking before he would unnecessarily bring up the subject, he found out that someone was indeed missing. 'I knew I saw him a while ago…'

"Ano, where is Shibuya-san?"

* * *

**Author's Ramblings**: So did you guess what anime/manga would crossover?


	5. A New Player in the Game

**A/N: **Wow, It's been a long time since I last updated. I've had a few things come my way: SCHOOL, writer's block, my computer crashing and things that would bore you. Enough excuses. I'm just wondering if people are still keen on getting to the end. The ending's there, just in my head. Now, if I can just somehow translate that into paper. Hmm...

To those that guessed Inuyasha, cookies for you! Enjoy! (Don't own either)

* * *

John Brown, maybe due to his training as a priest, would sometimes address the young CEO of SPR with formality. Given that said CEO was also quite rigid himself, it made sense that the equally young priest would rather refer to him as 'Shibuya-san' as opposed to the appointed nickname, Naru.

"Huh, Naru?" Takigawa was the first to comment, his words stumbling over. His eyes search the group and true to his observation, Naru was indeed missing. "Where is he?"

"He must be already at the base," Lin deduced. After all, where else could Naru be? 'Unless…' He gave a secret smile, but did not finish his train of thought. 'If he's not there, then…' It was a good thing that he was naturally a silent man, because they would have thought that something was wrong in his lack of participation in the conversation.

"He might be," Takigawa answered, and turned to up the stairs. It seems reasonable after all, remembering that Naru had asked Kobayashi-san to get him to talk with the students during the cafeteria accident. Knowing the young and accomplished man, he would get the student council president to go and get those who witnessed the recent event downstairs.

To say that Takigawa was surprised when he opened the door of the base was an understatement. Well, who wouldn't be, considering that only a bored Masako seemed to be in the room. Well, she didn't look like she was bored, but playing with a string that seem to have parted with the sleeve of her kimono, seem to have made the rest think otherwise.

She seemed to have noticed their entrance because at that moment the string was forgotten and her attention was on them. She looked around for a moment and noticed that the person she took a fancy in was missing at the moment.

"Where's Shibuya-san?" John asked before Masako could ask the same.

"Hn," she started, her brow furrowing at the pointless question, "he's _obviously_ not here."

"That's weird," Takigawa piped in, "Usually, he would've given us something to do before going off to some unknown chartered island. Not that I'm complaining."

A sharp voice cut in through the laughter of some of them, namely Takigawa. "Then I suggest," Lin said, "rather than incur Naru's wrath when he returns, you go and do a bit of investigation yourselves."

Takigawa slid the door to reveal a shock Kobayashi with her raised arm poised to knock on the door. Quickly recovering her composure, she then addressed the absent boss. "Shibuya-san…"

"…is not here." Unexpectedly, it was Lin who finished her sentence. He stood up and asked for the clipboard in the girl's hands. "I believe that these are the list of students that were involved in today's incident. I'll give this to him when he returns."

The inhabitants of the room were shocked speechless. This was definitely the most they got out of the tall man. "I think it's best if you go to class now, Kobayashi-san." With that, the girl bowed and left, closing the door on her way.

Takigawa cleared his throat. "Well, Brown-san, we should get going." At his companion's nod, the monk then left.

"I shall go as well," Masako announced, leaving without waiting for an acknowledgement. After all, none was given. The room was then silent, except for the sounds of typing.

The moment Mai entered the nurse's office, the nurse immediately mistook her for a student. Ayako quickly cleared up the issue and explained the lack of change of clothes. She also revealed Mai's accidental tendencies, which the nurse, fortunately for Mai, seems to disregard at the moment.

"Poor child," the matronly nurse said, gently applying medicine on Mai's now exposed wound. "At least the wound seems too deep. So you're one of those ghost hunters?"

Since Mai had been reduced to hissing at the stinging feeling, it was Ayako who answered the affirmative. "Do accidents like these happen all the time?" The nurse had gone into bandaging the wound.

"Yes. But it's mostly her." A sound of protest came from Mai.

"She's right." A new voice startled the three. Ayako turned and found that it was Naru. It seemed that he was there for quite a while, judging by the way he was leaning against the wall. If she was right, he had been with them on their trip to the sick bay.

Mai choked. "N-N-Naru?"

"Hmm? Naru? Were you worried about Mai?" Ayako teased.

"Don't be ridiculous. I was here to make sure that the company would have to pay for any hospital bills you might have. Given your past history, it's no wonder why the company is still doing well." With that he left, effectively shutting out any displays of displeasure his assistant had. He wasn't leaving because he was found out; he did have to interview those students.

"Are you sure you're okay Kagome-chan? You were just recovering from your illness." A concerned female asked.

"I'm alright, Yuka-chan, really I am." It was hard for Kagome to convince her friends that she was alright, since she was planted on the floor, using the rails of the roof balcony as support. "But why don't you guys tell me why the building just shook a while ago?"

"Oh that's right, you wouldn't have known since you were sick for the past few days," another voice answered and went on to recount the strange recent events of the school.

'Oh my,' Kagome thought, 'A ghost? Here? It's no wonder I haven't seen it yet. Now, how to help it out…'

"…and so, the school hired those ghost hunters, uhm what were they called again Eri?"

"I think they were called SPR," Eri answered. "Two were about our age and that guy was so cute, right?"

"Yeah, they arrived earlier this morning," Ayumi added to her report.

"Ghost hunters? Are they the real thing?" Kagome wondered.

The opening of the door prohibited the three girls from convincing Kagome about their own beliefs of the ghost hunter's ability. They looked on curiously to try and determine the new person's identity. It was Ayumi who first noticed it.

"Oh, you're one of those _SPR _people, neh?"

Now Takigawa was not in the habit of eavesdropping, especially not on conversations between teenage girls, except if Mai was involved. (Who knew you could get so much blackmail material.) But upon catching wind of their conversation, he couldn't help but listen in, especially since they were talking about the investigation. Deciding that he did not want to hear SPR's reputation being disparaged, or at least put to question, he made his appearance.

Since it was a break, most of the students were outside, while some were sitting at their desks either eating or studying. He had just finished his rounds when he decided to check out the roof for any suspicious activities.

"That's right," he greeted, "I'm Takigawa Houshou."

Ayumi stood while the other two lent Kagome a hand. "I'm Mizushima Ayumi. This is Nakamura Eri, Hayashi Yuka and Higurashi Kagome." She pointed to each friend respectively. Noticing that the last girl was rather pale, Takigawa asked if she was alright.

"I'm fine…" But that only raised protests from her friends. Takigawa offered to bring her to the nurse, but Kagome wouldn't budge. From what he could tell, she was unusually strong for a sickly girl. It seemed like the girl was experiencing chest pains twice today and oddly enough, coincided with the ghost appearance and Mai's incident.

It was only until he looked closely that he noticed her aura. He was astounded at the brightness and purity of it. His training as a monk and spiritual awareness has enabled him to _feel_ a person's aura to some extent. But this girl's aura was big and bright enough to be seen by him. 'Or even by Ayako.'

Takigawa was not the only one who was reading auras. Kagome took note of how soothing the person's aura was. It reminded Kagome of Miroku's aura, at least when he was using his spiritual powers. 'He must be like Miroku-sama then,' Kagome thought. 'He has spiritual powers.'

The monk stayed until he was certain that Kagome was well again. Afterwards he made his way back to the base where he found Naru.

"Hey Naru-bou, where've you been?" Naru didn't think him worthy enough to be even acknowledged.

"Anyways, I've found something suspicious." Having earned the young boss' attention, Takigawa proceeded to tell him about a young girl and her unusually bright aura.

"It seems that we might have to talk to Higurashi-san."

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